vppon the earth the wicked reprobats which are departed hence which last may bee called the Church infernall Phile. Why cal you it militant Stupe Because it fighteth warreth against God against Christ Iesus his worde against his glorye and sacred trueth in al things yea and agaynst all godlinesse and vertue in general Phile. Why cal you it the Church infernal Stupe Because it beeing dissolued liueth in eternal paines suffering in the iustice of God the punishment of euerlasting damnation And euē as the mylitant triumphant Church of God doe make but one body so these Churches of the diuel both which do liue here whiare departed hēce do make but one bodie also the Diuel being the head thereof Philemon What doe you call the Church of God Stupe I cal the Church of God the vniuersal number society of al Christian people dispearsed throughout the whole worlde agreeing together in one trueth one faith and one hope of eternal life by Iesus Christ. Phile. What be the marks and tokens wherby this church is knowen and discerned from the Church malignant and sinagogue of sathan Stu. They bee many but especially these The true preaching of the worde of God the due administration of the sacramentes the execution of Ecclesiasticall discipline according to the prescript rule of Gods woorde and the like So that where thou seest these things duely truely practised know thou that there is the vndoubted church of God Upon the other side where thou seest all these things neglected as it is in the papacie nay cleane impugned knowe thou that there is not so muche as the face of the true visible Church of God but the coūterfeit church of Sathan where the Diuel maketh his continual residence Phile. Seeing that the Lorde hath his Churche his beloued spouse and chosen congregation in this worlde whō hath he constituted the supreme head and gouernour of the same Stupe Christ Iesus whose the bodie is muste needes bee the heade of the Churche according to the saying of the Apostle I will that you knowe that Christ is the heade of euery manne Agayne God hath made al things subiect vnder his feete and hath appointed him ouer al things to be head ouer y e church In another place he saith But let vs folowe the truth in loue and in all things grow vp in him which is the head that is Christ. And to the Collossians he saith plainly thus And hee meaning Christ is the head of the bodie of the Churche Againe in the second chapter following he sayth And yee are complete in him which is the hear of all principalitie and power And further in the booke of Samuel he saith Thou hast deliuered mee from the contentions of my people thou hast preserued me to bee head ouer nations c. By all which places besides infinite the like which fearing least I might seeme tedious I omit it appeareth that Christ Iesus onely is the sole true only head of his body the church and not anye other power or principalitie vpō earth whatsoeuer And althogh that Christ bee the onelie vniuersall peremptorie head of his Church yet my meaning is not to denie Christian Princes that lawefull power and authoritie which y e word of god doth alow thē that is to be the chief heads ouer euery seuerall Church or congregation and ouer euery particular person and member of the same within theyr kingdomes and dominions as his Lieuetenaunts and Uicegerents vnder hym to rule and gouerne the people of God by the rule and scepter of his worde Phile. But I haue harde that no christian prince can be head ouer the Church of God but the pope onlie what is your opinion in that Stupe In deede the Pope I will not denie is Supreame head ouer the vniuersall Church vpon the earth but of what vniuersall Church Of the Catholike or vniuersal church of satā acording to my former diuisiō Of this malignant church I confes he is the only Supreme head But ouer the church of God the Spouse of Christe Iesus hee is so farre from beeing head that hee is not so much as a perfect member of the same For proofe whereof doe marke but thys one reason he that impugneth the worde of God and the doctrine of Christ Iesus wittyngly and willynglie is no true member of Christe Iesus But the Pope as the worlde beareth witnesse in all his Actes Dooinges and Proceedynges generally impugneche the woorde of GOD both wittinglye and willingly ergo neither hee nor any of hys Adherents are the true members of the mysticall bodie of Christe Iesus And notwythstandinge that hee is conuinced both by the worde of GOD the testimonie of his owne conscience the common verdict of all the woorlde that he is so farre frō being the supreme heade ouer the Uniuersall Churche of Christe vppon the earth that hee is not any true member thereof yet hee beareth or woulde beare the worlde in hande that hee is the onely Supreame head ouer the Churche of GOD that Christe Iesus hath made and constitute hym his Uicare and Lieuetenaunt generall to rule and reigne according too hys owne corrupt humour But howe falsly hee arrogateth this superioritye to hymselfe euery manne except wilfullie blynde maye perceyue For is not the Church of GOD the wyfe and Spouse of Christe Iesus Than howe dareth he challendge to be head ouer another mans wife Is he not a verlet that will require it and is not the wife a harlot that will permit it And is not that a monstrous bodye whiche hath moe heads then one Therefore co conclude Christ Iesus is the only Supreme head of the Churche and not the Pope The Pope hath his Churche to wit the malignant church Sinagogue of Satan whereouer he is head And as for the Church of God hee may let it alone for he hath no part nor fellowship therein except hee repent and conuert in time Phile. Who was the first of those lustie bruites that challendged this Supremacie before all others Stupe It is saide that Iohn Patriarch of Constantinople beganne to take vpon him to bee called the supreme head or vniuersall Bishop ouer all christendome Then Bonifacius the thirde Bishop of Rome seeing that to bee called head ouer all the worlde was a glorious title obteined of Phocas the Emperour to be called head ouer al the world in the yeere of our Lord .680 And thus was the egge laid that hatched this Cokatrice with all his filthie pewling brood Phile. There hath bin is great controuersie amongst many concerning the Pope of whom yet hitherto I could neuer heare a perfect description I pray you therefore what is the Pope Stupe Are you such a simple foole that you knowe not what the Pope is Hee is a manne as others are but in all kinde of mischiefe farre surpassing any who by blood
THE THEATER OF THE Popes Monarchie Wherein is described as well the vncleane Liues of that wicked generation as also their Antichristian gouernment and vsurped kingdome Togeather with their horrible Superstition and blasphemous religion as it is now vsed at this present where Antichrist the Pope his members do beare rule By Phillip Stubbes Imprinted at London by Thomas Dawson 1585. To the right Honorable Robert Lord Ritche his singular good Lorde and Moecenas Philippe Stubbes wisheth all prosperitie in this life with increase of Honour and eternall felicitie in the heauenly Hyerarchie by Iesus Christ. IN the Gospell after S. Matthewe right honorable and my very good Lorde oure Sauioure Christ teacheth vs most notably how to knowe and discerne false Prophetes from such as bee the true Pastours Ambassadours of Iesus Christ when he saith They shall come vnto you in sheepes clothing but inwardly they are rauening wolues you shal know thē by their fruites Then if the fruites of conuersation bee the ensignes the badges and cognizances to know false Prophets by as our sauiour sayth they are thē surely may we iudge nay certainly perswade our selues that the Papistes are those false Prophets Apostataes and seducers which the word of God speaketh of as in the further discourse of this booke shall manifestly appeare for not only do their works fruits conuince them heereof but also their false seditious erronious and heretical doctrine doth argue the same But they will easilye wipe away this blot and saye that we are those false Prophets of whom Christ speaketh of To whom I answeare let their workes and doctrine bee compared to ours and bothe peyzed in the equall ballance of Gods worde the onely touchstone to trie all controuersies by and then shall it easilye appeare whether they or wee are the false Prophetes Doe not they come vnto vs in sheeps cloathing I meane in suche habite as portendeth all kinde of austeritie humilitie and holinesse of life outwardlye as namelye in their Surplesses Copes Tippets forked Cappes Miters Hattes Crosiers Hoodes Cowles Tunicles Sandals Shirtes of hayre and a thousande other like playerlike garmentes yea and doe they not teache that all holinesse consisteth in these ragges Is not this to come in sheepes cloathing But they will obiect if thys bee so why doe you weare some of these garmentes I aunsweare wee haue some of them in deede but that is vppon sufferaunce and permission onely not vppon constrainte or necessitie as theirs are Besides ours is commaunded by a Christian Queene and therefore lawefull theirs by Antichriste and therefore vnlawfull Againe we vse them as things indifferent they as things of necessitie we repose no religion in them they relye holy vpon them And for theyr doctrine it is so erronious so corrupte so seditious nay so blasphemous and Sacrilegious that it would greeue a Christian manne to thinke of it As Prayer for the dead Iustification by good works Purgatorie Limbo Patrum Inherēt Rightuousnesse Inuocation to Saincts Transubstantiation Adoration of Images their seuen coūterfait Sacramentes extreeme vnctiō christening of Bels hallowing of churches churchyardes makinge of holy bread holy water Auricular confesion shrift penāce absolutiō masse mattēs diriges Lady Psalters tapers candles bedes censings ringings perfuminges legions of like trūperies which the word of God knoweth not of al which pointes of doctrin of theirs I wil intreat in a book by it self god willing very shortly wherin shal appeare whether they or we haue y e truth This is their godly doctrin which ther it com nerer to the word of God or ours let the world iudge And yet notwithstanding they set a faire face on it they stamp and stare beare the world in hand that theirs is the truth For say they our doctrine standeth vpon sure pillers antiquitie vniuersalitie generalitie the like Our doctrine is proued by discent of Bishops from time to time by consent of all nations and so foorth but your doctrine is newe and starte vppe the laste day c. But whether theirs or ours bee the newer it shall appeare in the discourse following First wee are able to proue that our doctrine is auncienter then theirs ye as auncient as God himselfe whose truth it is And first to begin with the diuine institution in Paradice wee reade that God the father gaue vnto Adam his word commandement to wit Thou shalt not eat◠of the tree of knowledge of good and euil ingrauing and as it were imprinting this word commandement in the heart of Adam and in him in all his posteritie By the which lawe of conscience then liued almost 2000. yeeres without any other law or word written being guided directed by the holy Ghost in all their actions the 2000. yeares being ended men waxing dissolute licentious wicked y e Lorde as Theophilactus witnesseth disdayning to speake to them any longer by his spirit for that they became wicked gaue thē a Lawe for before they hadde no written Lawe God appearing to them I meane the fathers and Patryarches in visions in apparitions in dreames sometime in the forme of angels waifaring men sometime in one shape sometime in an other according as their weakenesse could beare written by the finger of God in two tables of stone which is the x. commaundements Then Moses at the commandement of God committing to writing the x. commandements with his other fiue books as he was taughte and directed by the suggestion of the spirit of God ruled the Israelites thereby The old testament being thus written by the seruant of God Moses his faithful prophets at the commandement of God continued in force til the cōming of Christ which was in effect 2000. yeeres after Thē our sauiour Iesus Christ cōming in the flesh gaue in commandement to his Euangelists Apostles and prophets to write the new testamēt which they by the direction of gods spirit did most happily perform These 2. testaments now the old the new God be thāked we haue Now let the papists disproue this if they can or if they haue any other Gospell let thē bring it forth They cānot deny but we haue the same word of god which God the father our sauiour Christe the holy ghost haue giuen to the woorlde this being graunted it must needs folow that our doctrine is true theirs most false Now let them deriue their antichristian doctrine lineally from suche antiquitie truth as this if they can but that they shall neuer bee able to do For their doctrine hath bin longer in patching then Solomons temple was in building Yea within these x or xii hundred yeeres there was not a scrap of their pesteferous doctrine coyned no the egg was not thē laid that hatched that poisoned Cocatrice Then the truth of gods word throgh the iniquitie of time beginning by little little to suffer eclipse at the last sprang vp such mountaines of heresies corruptiōs cast out of the bottomles
pit as it were spewed out of the Diuels mouth that the truth was altogether obscured Then Antichrist the pope sprong vp challenging superioritie ouer all the face of the earth and he begun the Romish religion so euery one succeeding him put to somwhat yea euery Frier Monk Abbot Prior Prouost parson Vicar Cardinal and euen al in general added to it euery one a patch So that the papists religi if it may bee called a Religion is nothing els than the shreddes the peeces and patches the drosse dregs of corruptible meÌ„ ours the doctrine of the holy ghost But although that it could not be proued that our doctrine is auÌ„cienter then theirs yet the truth of the same dependeth not vpon the antiquity For Christ saith in the Gospel Ego sum via veritas vita I am the way the truth and the life He saith not I am custome I am antiquity And therfore I say Antiquitas sine veritate est vetustas erroris Antiquity without truth is the auÌ„cient of error Custome nor antiquity caÌ„ not make that true whiche in the beginning was false neither can the nouelties or newnes of anye thing make that faise which of it selfe is true Hereby it is manifest that the papistes doctrin is a doctrine of noueltie I had almost said of diuilry and ours a doctrine of al auncientnes the auncientest and yet wold they carry awaye the truth with a counterfeit shew of antiquitie And whereas also they depend so much vpon vniuersality forsooth god be thanked their doctrin is not so vniuersal as they make fare of For if y e nuÌ„ber of theÌ„ that haue receiued it bee compared to the number of theÌ„ that haue not receiued it they shal seeme not to bee one for a thousande naye not one for ten thousand For all the Easte churche neuer receyued his doctrine the Greeke Church neuer admitted it The greatest parte of Italy of FrauÌ„ce of FlauÌ„ders Rushia Muscouia Denmarke England Scotland Ireland and many other countries besides haue vtterly cast off his Antichristian yoke vsurped gouernment And therefore is not his doctrine so vniuersal as he wold perswade the world But they will saye who shal be iudge of the truthe of our and your Doctrine betwixt vs I aunsweare the word of God according to this saying of our sauiour Christ. Verbum quod ego predicaui vobis iudicabit nouissimo die The woorde that I haue preached vnto you shall iudge in the last daye But to leaue their doctrine and to come to their liues it is obiected they liue well and are plentifuller in good works then we therefore their doctrine and their faithe is the truth I aunswere there is a non sequitur or rather a mere Fallax in this argument for good works before the world is one thing good workes before God is another Those which in the eies of the worlde seeme to bee good works may be before god most filthy abhominable except they spring out of a liuely faith it is vnpossible they shuld please God as Paule sayeth The Iewes the Turkes the Paganes and Infidels doe good workes outwardly as it shoulde seeme but because they are wythout Faith they please not God And euen suche are our Papystes good woorks if they may be called Good works and not rather Ciuilia opera Ciuel woorkes or woorks of office which the Diuelles them selues may doe Besides this if they doe any good workes they are most detestable and lothsome before God because they seeke to be iustified and saued by them yea to merite heauen to make God greatly indebted and beholden vnto them And therefore I conclude that the papists although they do neuer so many good works outwardly yet are they but hypocritical and no true good woorkes indeed They erre in the nature of good works also for those wherevpon the Lorde hath set his seale and brande of curse and malediction for euer they call good workes as namely the building and erecting of Abbeies nunneries priories monasteries other religious houses guilding of Images erecting of Idols and statuaries in churches creeping and offering to crosses giuing of money to buy cups chalices copes other rich ornameÌ„ts of the church To bestow largely vpon bels but specially vpoÌ„ priests and clarks to sing masse for their soules diriges treÌ„talles Ladyes Psalters suppressing of Gods worde slaying murthering killing of Gods Saintes for the maintenaÌ„ce of their kingdom a thousaÌ„d like which they cal good works but indeed are y e works of the Diuel But such as the worde of God doth commend vnto vs for good works as namely to visit those that are in prison to clothe the naked to feed the hungry to lodge the harbourlesse to relieue the poore needy to helpe poore orphanes widows and fatherlesse to their ryght and such other good woorks with them they haue nothing to do or if they haue they doe them in such sorte and with such a mind and intention as they are not to be called good works in respect of the end as I haue shewed before Thus we see right honourable most illustrious Lord how they delude the worlde with their pretenâ—ed shew of good works and doctrine neyther whereof are agreeable to the word of God For as for them they haue not nor will haue anye thing in the Churche but mens traditions humaine inuentions and vaine constitutions of corruptible men formed and framed in the forge of their own deceiptfull brayns whereas the Lorde speaking from heauen saith Hic est filius meus dilectus ipsum audite This is my welbeloued sonne heare him heare him And in the Gospel after S. Matthew our sauiour Christ saith In vain doe they worshippe me teaching the doctrines and traditions of men And yet for all this they will haue nothing in the church but the vaine traditioÌ„s of men cleane contrary to the word of God And as for their adulterate liues if any man waigh theÌ„ in the ballauÌ„ce of impartial iudgment he shal find them worse then the Sodomites how soeuer they blanch them and set a glosse vpon them to bleare the eies of the world withal And no maruaile that they liue most vilely For wheÌ„ they haue done they haue a tricke of Legerdymayn to obsolue them selues a culpa paena that is from the fault be it neuer so haynous froÌ„ the punishmeÌ„t due for the fault Al which abuses because I haue laid theÌ„ down more at large in the further processe of this booke I wil referre your honor to the same And now my very good Lord to bende to bend my style towards your honour What shal I say May it not be woondred with what face I haue presumed to dedicate this woorke to your Honourable Lordeshippe rather then to many others Truely it maye so But two thinges in especiall haue moued me thereto y e one the Godly affectioÌ„ zeale which your Lordship beareth in sacred brest to the truth of